Here are six time management tips that you can use to improve your organizational skills and increase productivity. The more of these tools you learn to use, the more that you will get done each day.

Time Management Tip #1: Prepare in Advance

First, prepare your work list for the following day the evening or night before. The best exercise is for you to plan your entire next day as the last thing you do before coming home from work. When you plan your day the night before, your subconscious then goes to work on your plans and goals while you are asleep. Very often you will wake up in the morning with ideas and insights that apply to the work of the day.

A major benefit of preparing your daily list the night before is that this exercise lets you sleep more soundly. A major reason for insomnia is your lying awake trying not to forget to remember everything that you have to do the following day. Once you have written down everything you have to do on your list, it clears your mind and enables you to sleep deeply. This will help you increase productivity throughout the next work day.

Time Management Tip #2: Schedule Your Time

Scheduling your time reduces stress and releases energy. The very act of using your organizational skills to plan your day, week, and month gives you a greater feeling of control and will help increase productivity throughout your day. You’ll feel in charge of your life. It actually increases your self-esteem and improves your sense of personal power.

Time Management Tip #3: Start Early

To increase productivity, start your day early. The more time you take to sit, think, and plan, the better organized you will be in every area of your life. In the biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women, almost all of them have one thing in common. They developed great organizational skills and the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour and rising early. DOWNLOAD MY FREE REPORT: “DISCOVERING YOUR TALENTS” HERE.

Many successful people arise at 5:00 A.M. or 5:30 A.M. so that they can have enough time to think and plan for the coming day. As a result, they are always more effective than those who sleep in until the last possible moment.

A few minutes of quiet reflection before you begin any undertaking can save you many hours executing the task. When you get up early and plan your day in advance, you tend to be more calm, clear-headed, and creative throughout the day.

Time Management Tip #4: Organizational Skills

Resolve to improve your organizational skills and use a filing system both at home and at work. As much as 30 percent of working time today is spent looking for misplaced items. These are things that are lost because they have not been filed correctly. Does this sound familiar to you? There are few activities so frustrating as spending your valuable time looking for misplaced materials because no thought was given to a filing and retrieval system.

The best and simplest of all filing systems is an alphabetical system. In conjunction with a filing system, you should have a master list or record of all your files in a single place. This master list gives you the title of each file and tells you where the file is located.

Time Management Tip #5: Increase Productivity With Prime Time

Organize your life so that you are doing creative work during your internal ‘‘prime time.’’ Your internal prime time is the time of day, according to your body clock, when you are the most alert and productive. For most people, this is in the morning. For some people, however, it is in the evening. Occasionally, a writer, an artist, or an entertainer may find that her prime time is in the early hours of the morning

It is important that you be aware of your internal prime time so that you can schedule your most important projects accordingly to increase productivity. Your most important work usually requires that you be at your very best, rested, alert, and creative. What time of the day do you most feel this way?

You must also be aware of external prime time. This is the time when your customers or clients are most readily available. Each person should give some thought to structuring their day for both their external and internal prime times.

Time Management Tip #6: Air Travel Productivity

An important area where organizational skills are important is travel, especially air travel.

Some years ago, Hughes AirWest, a regional airline that once served the western U.S., hired a consulting firm to compare the efficiency of flying first-class with flying economy-class, and with working in a normal office. What they found was that one hour of uninterrupted work time in an airplane yielded the equivalent of three hours of work in a normal work environment. The keyword was ‘‘uninterrupted.’’ If you plan ahead and organize your work before you leave for the airport, you can increase productivity by accomplishing an enormous amount while you are in the air.

I hope you enjoyed this article on increasing productivity through better organizational skills. If you have any other time management tips, please feel free to share it below!

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin and Youtube.

Time management is a very difficult process for many people to intake. We tend to multi-task so often that we fail to complete our most important tasks. I like the tips that you gave out above, but what usually helps me is using a bullet journal. It’s pretty much writing down all your task you have to complete either that month or week in a journal and crossing out whatever you completed.

Michael Gregory II

Great article! I’m currently working on my time management skills as well. So far, I have a few useful strategies that usually helps me out if you’d like to check them out: http://www.michaelgregoryii.com/2014/10/15/developing-time-management-skills/ However, lately I’ve been working on a new type of organizing journal. It’s basically called the Bullet Journal, which allows you to write all your goals for that month in a journal and you cross them out on a daily calendar depending on which one you complete.

Adil Hussain

A befitting article worthy of applause. Your points are properly focused on the main areas where we tend to let things fall apart. Great insight and advice. I wish I found this sooner. I didn’t know this until today. Awesome!